LAS VEGAS — A balanced offense has generally meant great success for the Saint Mary’s men’s basketball team this year.

That philosophy worked again Sunday as the Gaels showed that sharing is definitely a virtue in defeating Santa Clara 73-64 in a West Coast Conference tournament semifinal at the Orleans Arena.

With the victory, top-seeded Saint Mary’s advanced to Monday’s 6 p.m. championship game against No. 2 seed Gonzaga, which survived to edge USF 71-67 in the other semifinal.

The sharing didn’t manifest itself in the Gaels’ normal fashion. For instance, WCC player of the year Mickey McConnell had just one field goal, and it didn’t come until there were less than three minutes left.

Mitchell Young came off the bench to lead Saint Mary’s in scoring with 17 points, and Stephen Holt added 15. McConnell finished with 10.

“It was a tough game, gritty,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said. “The first half, it was hard to get away from them. We survived some foul trouble with (Rob) Jones and a little bit with Mickey, so once we got through that, we played well in the second half. We played well for the game. The first half, it was just tough for us to separate.”

Santa Clara coach Kerry Keating said: “We certainly felt like we came out and established what we wanted to do and how we wanted to play and how we wanted the game to be played in the first half.

“Unfortunately we had about a six-possession stretch where we didn’t have that type of effort in the second half. At this level and this stage of the game when you’re playing for championships, good teams are going to take advantage of that, and they did.”

Saint Mary’s (24-7) opened up its 31-29 halftime lead at the start of the second half. Jones scored four points during a 7-2 run.

From there, the Gaels kept building. It was a team effort, as McConnell couldn’t shake WCC defensive player of the year Troy Payne. Young worked well underneath the basket, while Holt and guard Matthew Dellavedova provided perimeter firepower to keep Saint Mary’s in charge.

Marc Trasolini was a constant for Santa Clara, scoring a game-high 22 points. Kevin Foster scored 18, but Holt’s defensive effort helped hold the hot-shooting guard to just 5-of-18 shooting from the field.

Also, Holt’s outside shooting was a carry-over from the Gaels’ last game, a win over Portland on Feb. 26. So even though Payne was a standout in guarding McConnell, Holt was able to convert when given the chance.

“I’m very confident,” Holt said.

Though the Broncos (19-14) won’t be headed to the NCAA tournament, Keating remained confident that they will be playing in some capacity when the postseason begins.

“We’re practicing next week, and we’re going to have fun with it, and we’re going to play. We know we will be playing,” Keating said. “The when, who, where and how, we’ll let that be decided as long as we are playing, and we know we will, we’ll be ready to go.”

Gonzaga 71, USF 67: Marquise Carter scored 18 points, including seven late free throws, and Demetri Goodson made a key steal to help Gonzaga (23-9) hang on in the other semifinal.

USF (17-14) came back from 13 points behind in the second half to get within 68-65 after a 3-pointer by Michael Williams with 9.7 seconds left, and Rashad Green stole the inbounds pass.

But USF called a timeout from the bench when the Dons didn’t have any remaining, giving Carter two more free throws. He made one for a 69-65 lead.

Saint Mary’s Peter Thibeaux (1979-83) and Santa Clara’s Dennis Awtrey (1967-70) were two of eight to be honored at halftime as this year’s inductees into the WCC Hall of Honor.

Women

Saint Mary’s 71, San Diego 68: The score sheet reflected just how hard the Saint Mary’s women had to work to defeat San Diego in their West Coast Conference tournament semifinal.

It didn’t show how much it meant to the Gaels.

Several years of struggling in the conference tournament were put aside as the No. 2 seed Gaels (19-11) gutted out a tough win over the No. 8 Toreros (17-14) to advance to Monday’s championship game against No. 1 Gonzaga at noon.

“It’s a huge step for us,” said Saint Mary’s coach Paul Thomas, who got his second win in five seasons of conference tournament play. “Hopefully it will help us not only tomorrow but in the future, and them understanding what it takes to play in a championship game.”

A jumper by San Diego’s Dominique Connors with 59 seconds left put her team ahead 65-64, but Gaels freshman Danielle Mauldin had the answer at the other end, converting a 3-point play to put Saint Mary’s back up 67-65 with 42 seconds left.

Connors hit a 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds left to make it 69-68 Saint Mary’s. But Kate Gaze, who finished with 14 points for the Gaels, made two free throws with 5.4 left to ice the win.

Connors finished with 20 points to lead San Diego.

Louella Tomlinson made another mark on the Saint Mary’s record book in the win, breaking the school’s career scoring record, her 21 points to lead all scorers shooting her 15 points past current Gaels assistant Tracy (Morris) Johnston’s old mark of 1,807 to 1,822.

“It’s pretty exciting for me,” Tomlinson said. “My sister did the same thing at her school in Alabama.”

2012 with BYU

BYU’s entrance into the conference for basketball in the 2012 season will result in a longer conference tournament and a shift in conference scheduling, WCC commissioner Jamie Zaninovich said Sunday.

The conference tournament will remain at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas for at least one more year and will run from Feb. 29-March 5, 2012. The format will not change, but the tournament will start a day earlier so that teams will have Sunday off to accommodate BYU. The Nos. 8 and 9 seeds will play Wednesday, and the top two seeds still will receive a double bye.

Whether the conference will move to a bigger venue after the 2012 season is an ongoing discussion and will last into the summer.

Conference scheduling also will shift a bit. The nine-week, double round-robin format might not use travel partners but will try to keep geography in mind.

Zaninovich said the conference is also closing in on a new, long-term TV agreement with ESPN.